Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

     In William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", Romeo and Juliet die for their love. But is it really true love? I believe that Romeo and Juliet's love was not completely real, even if they believed it to be. Juliet wanted to rebel against her family, Romeo was lusting for a woman, and they were both immature.

    Juliet wanted to rebel because her parents were truly bad parents (Capulet to Juliet, about marrying Paris - "To go with Paris to Saint Peter's Church, / Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither. / Out, you green sickness carrion! Out, you baggage! / You tallow face!" [3.5.159-162]), and her parents were forcing her to marry Paris without even consulting her on the matter (Capulet, on Juliet not wanting to marry Paris - "How, will she none? Doth she not count her blessed, / Unworthy as she is, that ha have wrought / So worthy a gentleman to be her bride?" [3.5.147-152]). Juliet also wanted to rebel because she knew her mother married young to her father, whom she didn't love, and subconsciously, Juliet was afraid of being unloved, or not loving the man she married, so the first person she felt a spark with who felt the spark back (Romeo) is the man that she married.

     Romeo was lusting for a woman. First, he loved Rosaline, and he was sad because she was becoming a nun, so he couldn't get married to her (Romeo, sad about Rosaline not being able to bear children - "O, she is rich in beauty, only poor / That, when she dies, with beauty dies her store." [1.1.223-224]). Then, he throws his love for Rosaline away when he sees Juliet (Romeo, when he first sees Juliet - "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! / It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night / As a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear- / Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear." [1.5.51-54]). He is jumping from woman to woman, and may not see that he is doing this, but it is happening.

     Romeo and Juliet were both rather immature. Juliet was only 13 (Capulet, on Juliet's age - "Thou knowest my daughter's of a pretty age." [1.3.11]), and Romeo was 18. They also both had strong influences, Romeo having Mercutio and Juliet having Romeo, and their influencers did not always do the right thing (Mercutio, picking a fight with Tybalt, Juliet's cousin - "Will you pluck your sword out of his pitcher by the ears? / Make haste, lest mine be about your / ears ere it be out." [3.1.81-83]).

     In conclusion, Romeo and Juliet's love was not exactly real, even if they thought it was, because Juliet wanted to get back at her parents, Romeo was a womanizer, and they bother were not too mature. Shakespeare was trying to tell people that young love, or as a matter of fact any love, can end badly, especially if someone is not ready for it.

Ubik by Philip K. Dick

     I recently read the book "Ubik" by Philip K. Dick, set in 1992 but written in 1969, a sci-fi story about a world where psychics, pre-cogs, and animators exist (basically magic people) and so do people who can nullify their powers. There are companies that make use of both kinds of people, and when Glen Runciter, the owner of a company for people who nullify powers, goes on a trip to Luna, where there is an explosion which causes Glen to die and put in cold-Pac (a freezer where people can talk to him using microphones) with his wife Ella, who died many years earlier. But in the "real world", Joe Chip, a tester for Runciter, and the crew who went with him to Luna are experiencing decay of objects to earlier forms and Glen Runciter's face on coins and bills.
     There is more than one protagonist in Ubik, but the one that is followed for the majority of the story is Joe Chip, the tester for Runciter's company. He is lazy, cynical, and can't even afford to open his own door (in this world, everything is coin-operated). In the middle of the story, he loses a loved one to decay. I can relate to him in that I have lost things that I love before. He lost a woman that he loved, while I have lost many pets to old age.
     There is one person who influences the protagonist throughout the story. It is Pat Conley, a woman who can change the past by thinking about minor details that she wants to change. She thinks that she is causing the decay using her ability, and pretends that she loses her ability so they don't suspect her of it. In one past that she creates, she is married to Joe Chip, and he vaguely remembers the feelings he had for her when she changes the past back. This is why she has such a big influence on him. She influences him to get away from the rest of the group so she can kill him, as she thought she had killed the others.

The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett

     I recently finished the book "The Wright 3" by Blue Balliett. It is about three sixth-graders, Tommy, Calder, and Petra, who try to save the Robie House from being demolished and sent to different museums in America. Though they eventually succeed, a lot of bad things happen, which they push through together.
     Though Tommy was originally jealous of Petra because she helped Calder solve a mystery in the first book in this series, "Chasing Vermeer", Tommy and Petra are good friends in the end. I can relate to this because I have been jealous of people for doing things that I wish I had done.
     I think that the story resolved the way that it did because the author wanted to show that with enough effort, you can do anything. The audience of this book is children, so I can understand why there would be a happy ending. The theme that it reveals is perseverance through seemingly impossible odds. I did like the ending, because it fit well with the rest of the story. I did expect them to succeed in the end, but in the climax I thought that they could fail. This book teaches the reader about life in what I think is a very metaphorical sense, in that if you continue to try something, eventually you succeed, no matter the odds.

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

     I recently read the book "I Am Number Four" by the author Pittacus Lore (though I don't think that this is his real name) about a group of nine survivors of a hibernating planet sent to Earth to destroy the conquerors of their planet once and for all. The individuals look like humans, but have enhanced strength and speed, along with telekinesis and special powers, called Legacies, which develop over time. The book follows Number Four, who goes by John Smith on Earth, and his Cêpan (basically a guardian who has no special powers), who goes by Henri.
    John Smith is loyal to his Cêpan, who trained him from a young age to bring his planet out of hibernation and destroy the Mogadorians (the conquerors). There are many obstacles preventing the protagonist from doing so are the Mogadorians and the fact that John is very inexperienced and doesn't know completely about the history of Lorien (his planet).
     One person that influences John greatly throughout this book is Henri. He is like a father to John, and hides him from the Mogadorians so that they cannot kill him. When Henri dies, it is a huge loss for John, who must get through the death with the help of another Loric survivor, Number Six.

The Brotherhood of the Rose by David Morrell

     I have recently been reading the book "The Brotherhood of the Rose" by David Morrell. It is about two orphans, Chris and Saul, who are adopted by a top espionage agent and trained to be assassins. But when their adopted father, Eliot, tries to have them killed, their loyalty to each other, determination, and training are put to the test.
     There is no single protagonist in this book, as Chris and Saul are both the main characters. They are influenced by many people throughout the story, but the only person who influenced them both and influenced them the strongest was Eliot, their adopted father. When he tricked them and tried to kill them, they felt betrayed. I can understand this (but not on such an extreme level) because if I trust someone unconditionally and then they betray me, I feel hurt and angry. I think that what David Morrell wanted to portray in this scenario is how close family is, but how fragile every relationship is.
     Some obstacles preventing the protagonists from reaching their goal is that because Chris committed a global crime by killing someone in an Abelard sanction (a neutral zone), every government in the world is after him now. This affects their travel because now not only are they trying to get to Eliot, who works for the CIA in the fourth most powerful position in the agency, but they are trying to avoid all other governments.
   

Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Babe Ruth Baseball by David A. Adler

     I recently read the short story "Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Babe Ruth Baseball" by David A. Adler. It is about Cam Jansen, a child with photographic (eidetic) memory who helps solve petty crimes like items being stolen. In this book, she solves a crime where a child steals a baseball that was signed by Babe Ruth that was owned by an old man who is very sad because it was signed just for him. The protagonist, Cam Jansen, eventually finds the baseball. Some obstacles that she has to overcome are that no one but Eric, her best friend, believes her that someone stole the ball, and that the boy outsmarts them by replacing the ball with one that two children were playing catch with when they went to check his baseball for the signature, and then replaced it after they left. But the story resolves itself at the end, when Cam Jansen shows off her eidetic memory at a hobby show.

     I believe that the story resolved itself the way it did because it deserved a happy ending. I don't think that there would be a book in the Cam Jansen series where she doesn't solve the mystery by the end. If there was, then the general audience of the book (children) would feel sad and not want to read the Cam Jansen series anymore, because they know that Cam Jansen always solves the mysteries.

     I don't really have an opinion on the ending. I knew who it was from the moment they saw him, because there were pretty blatant hints throughout the entire story. I feel that if it was someone else, then the story would be more interesting. Then again, that would seem weird and be too complex for younger readers to understand.

     I feel like this story doesn't really teach much about life, because only children with eidetic memory could relate to Cam Jansen. I think it was really made solely for entertainment, and no reason other than that.

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick

     I have recently been reading the book "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" by Philip K. Dick. It is set in a future where the Earth has heated up to the point where people need to stay indoors most of the time and can't face the sun with bare skin ever. On colonies on other planets such as Mars, people resort to an illegal drug called Can-D to look into the eyes of a doll in a "Perky Pat" layout in past Earth. But a man named Palmer Eldritch comes back with a strange lichen from the universe outside of the solar system and makes a new company called Chew-Z that sells legal Chew-Z.
     The protagonist is someone named Barney Mayerson. He is a pre-cog (someone who can glimpse into the future at future possibilities) who works for P.P. (Perky Pat) Layouts. I can relate to him because I have made the wrong decision and it has had consequences.
     Another leading character in the story is the CEO of P.P. Layouts, Leo Bulero. He lives lavishly and holds many mistresses, but everything falls apart when Eldritch becomes competition. I can relate to him because I have worked hard on something only to have someone else take the reward from right under me. It is hard to get over it.